Some residents of Lagos on Saturday called for sustained enforcement of the monthly environmental sanitation exercise to ensure a cleaner and healthier environment across the state.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that residents in parts of Surulere participated in the exercise by sweeping roads, clearing blocked drainages, and disposing of waste at approved collection points.
Commercial activities were low during the exercise as movement restrictions ordered by the Lagos State Government were enforced between 6:30am and 8:30am.
Areas monitored included Masha, Kilo, Ogunlana and Lawanson, with sanitation officials and security personnel supervising compliance.
Traders and residents were seen cleaning gutters in front of their shops and houses, while officials of the Lagos Waste Management Authority evacuated refuse from some locations.
Isiaka Balogun, a resident of Masha, said the sanitation would reduce flooding during the rainy season.
Balogun said: “When gutters are blocked with refuse, floodwater cannot pass freely.
“If this exercise continues regularly and people stop dumping waste in drainage channels, flooding will reduce in many parts of Surulere.”
Helen Ajibola, a resident of Kilo, said the exercise had encouraged many people to pay greater attention to environmental cleanliness.
Ajibola said: “People are becoming more conscious of keeping their surroundings clean again.
“In the past, many residents ignored sanitation because the exercise stopped for years, but now people are beginning to adjust.”
Also speaking, Ridwan Sulaimon, a trader at Lawanson Market, urged the government to provide more waste bins in busy areas to support proper refuse disposal.
Sulaimon said many residents would comply with sanitation guidelines if waste disposal facilities were easily accessible.
NAN observed officials of the Kick Against Indiscipline monitoring major roads to ensure compliance with the restriction order.
Meanwhile, sweepers took the lead in sanitation activities in Ogba and Agege, Pen Cinema areas, where commercial activities were largely suspended in compliance with the directive.
While some residents were seen sweeping their compounds and cleaning their surroundings, many others remained indoors throughout the exercise.
In several locations visited, road sweeping was largely carried out by sanitation workers, with limited participation from residents.
In spite of the restriction, a few food vendors operated within the Pen Cinema Railway Market and nearby mini parks, attending to passengers waiting for the restriction period to end.
At several parks in Agege, commuters were seen waiting for vehicles to resume operations as commercial transport services remained limited.
The usually busy Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway around Agege recorded lighter traffic during the exercise, although a few tricycles and commercial buses were observed conveying passengers.
Some youths also took advantage of the reduced vehicular movement to engage in recreational activities beneath the Pen Cinema Bridge.
Overall, compliance with movement restrictions was high, although participation in sanitation activities remained low in some communities where cleanup efforts were largely undertaken by sanitation workers.
NAN reports that the Lagos State Government recently reintroduced the monthly environmental sanitation exercise to improve hygiene and restore environmental discipline across the state.
